Cabral’s sojourn in Brazil
After sighting Monte Pascoal (Mount Easter) on 22 April 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral ordered his ships to sail ahead and, on the following day, they were a little over 2 km from the mouth of the Frade River. There, they rested at anchor for about 10 hours and sighted seven or eight Amerindians.
After calling a meeting with his captains, Cabral sent Nicolau Coelho ashore to learn more about the people who lived there. His encounter with about twenty natives at the mouth of the river did not take place under ideal conditions due to roaring waves and the late hour.
After spending a night at anchor in rough weather, Cabral decided to seek a more sheltered anchorage the following day.
At about 8:00 a.m. on 24 April 1500, the ships left their anchorage near the Frade estuary and sailed north in search of a more favorable spot. In the evening, they cast anchor in Cabrália Bay, a site considered ideal by the navigators of the caravels in the vanguard hugging the shore to plumb the coastal waters and determine the depth of the ocean. They also scoured the coastline for a sheltered spot and a river that would provide fresh water.
Calculating that they traveled about 10 leagues (59,000 meters) that day, we can estimate that the ships sailed for ten hours at an average speed of 3 knots in the rain, with a southwesterly wind.
The ships anchored about one league (5,900 meters) from the Coroa Vermelha reef in eleven fathoms of water.
Navigator Afonso Lopes, who set out in a skiff (small boat) to sound the depths of the waters in Cabrália Bay put two natives in a canoe and took them to Cabral’s flagship. The admiral tried to pump them for information about the region’s treasures without success, as they were naturally unable to understand him. After this initial contact, the two natives slept aboard the ship.
On the morning of April 25th, a Saturday, Nicolau Coelho and Bartolomeu Dias went ashore with the two natives, accompanied by Pêro Vaz de Caminha and Afonso Ribeiro, a convict. Meanwhile, the larger ships anchored near the smaller ones. The Portuguese then met up with about two hundred Amerindians and began fetching water from the Mutari River.
That afternoon, Cabral landed on Coroa Vermelha reef, but did not stay long. The following day, Low Sunday, Cabral and the other captains disembarked on the same spot to attend a mass celebrated there in honor of the day on April 26th. Cabral then met with his captains and decided to send the supply ship back to Portugal to send word of this newfound land. In the afternoon, Cabral and several crewmembers went ashore to meet with the Amerindians once again.
On April 27th, the natives and Europeans continued to fraternize. Diogo Dias and three convicts set off to visit the Amerindians’ village while master João Farias and Pedro Escolar calculated their latitude as being 17 degrees South. That day, Cabral sent two carpenters to make a large wooden cross to mark that site. The work took some time, as they had to select and cut down a tree on the left bank of the Mutari River.
On April 28th, work continued on the cross while other sailors chopped firewood and washed clothes. The following day, reserve supplies were distributed among the ships. Sancho de Tovar went ashore and took two Amerindians back on board.
On April 30th, the ships replenished their water supplies and loaded the firewood. Then, a second mass was said, and the Portuguese set sail once again to resume their voyage to India. They left behind them the first experience of contacts and civilizing dialogue on the Brazilian coast between Europeans and Amerindians, which are well known today thanks to the invaluable first-hand account provided by Pêro Vaz de Caminha’s letter.
The first physical evidence that the Portuguese left of their presence in this Land of Vera Cruz (the True Cross) was a cross that bore the arms of Portugal and marked the fine watering place found at the mouth of the Mutari.
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